Harry Potter and the Unexpected Bender
by Mistyquest
Summary: Canon-compliant crossover! Harry is on an undercover, inter-dimensional mission for the Ministry of Magic. Katara is hard at work rebuilding her world. Their eventual meeting is very lemony. Harry/Katara. Rated M for future lemons.
1. Chapter 1

WARRANT FOR ARREST

Issued 24/03/2000

Official Document of:

Ministry of Magic; London, United Kingdom; Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC to all officers of the law (AURORS, MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, MUGGLE ARTIFACTS, OBLIVIATORS, etc.)

IN THE CASE OF Pathik Gupta, 60, ACCUSED OF THE FOLLOWING: Assault; Resisting Arrest; Forced Entry; Assault of an Officer; Use of an Unforgivable; Unauthorized Access to Classified Ministry Files

YOU ARE THEREFORE COMMANDED to arrest forthwith the above named person(s) and bring said person(s) before the court to be dealt with according to the full extent of the law.

Signed: Percy Weasley, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister

Hestia Jones, Department of Magical Law Enforcement

As Harry finished reading the warrant in his hand, he heard Ron give a low whistle, no doubt at the long list of charges crammed into the limited space. Harry felt the surprise too; at sixty, Pathik Gupta was no spring chicken, even for a wizard. Nonetheless, the warrant described quite a crime. After injuring several Muggles one night in South Chiswick, Gupta fled arrest by the magical and Muggle authorities. He resurfaced a few weeks later, spotted by a late night guard in the Ministry itself, before disappearing into the depths of the Department of Mysteries. Beyond that, Harry's security clearances blocked him from further knowledge of the case. Tantalizing flecks of light marched around the Concealment charm which kept the rest of the page from his view.

As usual, Ron was thinking the same thing. "Makes no sense," he muttered. "If the bloke hasn't been seen since he entered the Ministry, why the arrest warrant? He couldn't have escaped, could he?" Harry had no answer; the question boggled his mind too, though judging from the lack of interest amongst the more experienced Aurors in the room, he guessed that his inexperience contributed to their confusion.

Instead of moving on the next case file, as was generally the case at the morning Auror meeting, the Head of Department Gawain Robards paused to check his notes before adding, "This warrant is of particular importance to the Unspeakables, down in the DOM. Agents are being asked to remain on the alert. The head of department has also requested that a team be assigned to the case immediately." He flipped through more sheaves of parchment, searching for the case log. "Weasley, Potter, you two haven't been on assignment in a while. Time for you to get your feet wet. Report to Tiberius Ogden once this meeting is adjourned." The two wizards nodded their assent.

Blessedly, in Harry's opinion, the meeting ended soon after and he and his partner were speeding towards the enchanted lifts, then down floor after floor until the cool, female voice announced, "Department of Mysteries."

"Ach," Ron announced as they made their way down the all-too familiar hall, and Harry couldn't agree more. Bad memories seemed to seep from the mortar in the dark brick walls. The pair came to a halt outside of a door which led down to the offices of the Unspeakables, deposited their wands into a holding chest, and then walked forward as the door slid open. They strode down the hall towards an official looking door marked with a dark placard reading, Tiberius Ogden.

Ogden looked up as they entered his office, then quickly conjured chairs for his guests as he asked, "Robards send you?" Without waiting for an answer, he began shuffling through his many filing cupboards, as if he had misplaced something important. Harry took the momentary pause to study the man. He had close cropped white hair and a short beard, reminding him with a pang of Dumbledore. It occurred to him that this man had in fact been very close to Dumbledore. The thought put him in a solemn mood. The searching look on Ron's face as he examined the man gave Harry the impression that his partner was on the same track.

Harry was impressed, if slightly unsettled by the office he sat in. It had no windows ("No alternative exits," thought Harry), and the floors and walls were made of the same dark brick as the hall. Grand silver mirrors glittered on the walls in every direction. Their light played across the large black filing cupboards hunkered behind Ogden's desk. Harry knew, from experience with similar models in the Auror offices, that each of them contained Undetectable Extension Charms concealing thousands of drawers. Ogden's eyes were now closed in concentration, as he attempted to recall the right file. He then confidently reached forward and opened one of the drawers, revealing rows of stacked parchment and lumpy cases.

Ogden resumed speaking. "I know I don't need to remind you that this is highly confidential information. Any breach could seriously compromise the department. Is that clear?" Harry heard Ron stifle an exasperated groan. Harry himself felt a twinge of amusement at the oft repeated phrase repeated like a harsh nursery rhyme to all trainee-Aurors.

Before they could respond he resumed, "As of now, you two are being sent on a tracking mission to retrieve Mr. Pathik Gupta, formerly of South Chiswick, London." Ogden handed the two men identical stacks of parchment, presumably detailing the mission, as well as two neatly folded cloth sacks.

"Where are we being sent?" Harry asked as he examined them.

"Honestly, Potter," Ogden replied, "I couldn't even begin to answer that question."


	2. Chapter 2

Later, Harry felt his temper starting to get to him as he realized that they had been left in the dark once more, both literally and figuratively. "Looks like a shoe rack," Ron said next to him, drawing Harry's attention from his own thoughts. He had to agree that the assessment was correct.

After their conversation with Ogden, he had updated their clearances with a flash of gold from his wand, then led them through the dark door into the Department of Mysteries, through the antechamber and several doors, and finally deposited them in a shadowed room with a curt, "Good luck, Potter. Weasley." For a while now they had stood there in the dark, and in the silence Harry had time to contemplate how unsettling this all was. Walking through the door that had once haunted his nightmares as an employee was something Harry had never imagined himself doing, let alone being led there by the head of the Unspeakables as if it were an everyday occurrence.

The room they now stood in did not seem to actually have a ceiling, as if it continued on into the universe without end. Stretching against the far wall of this cavernous room was a structure composed of large-ish black caves, or doors Harry supposed, separated into compartments by a thick lattice. However, beyond the size of it, the room was largely uninteresting. Knowing what terrifying sights other areas of the Department of Mysteries contained, the fact that this room seemed to be a glorified storage facility was baffling. Ron suddenly snickered.

"What could possibly be funny?" Harry said.

"After what we've seen, Hall of Prophecy and the brains and all that, you wouldn't think life had any more surprises. But now here we stand, in the Hall of Giant Shoes." He burst out laughing. His chuckles reverberated around the room. Harry took a moment to feel sorry for Hermione.

The door behind them opened, and as two darkly dressed Unspeakables stepped through, the room's lights turned on like someone had flipped a switch. One of the newcomers continued walking toward the structure, but blessedly the other directed his steps toward the two waiting Aurors.

"Good morning," she said, her face hidden by a ludicrous hood, Harry couldn't help but observe. Without bothering to introduce herself she continued, "I'm here to brief you on the assignment. Now, if you don't mind, put on the clothes that have been provided to you while I assist my colleague." Harry and Ron did as they were told, glad to have definitive instructions at last.

Now dressed in coarse robes dyed pale green, the partners stood before the much changed structure. The dark caves had become swirling doors, illuminating the walls of compartments too numerous to count. The hooded woman had informed them nonchalantly that each door housed a portal, and then had launched into a mind-numbing discourse on quantum mechanics and the multiverse. As Harry tried to seem politely interested, Ron had strode forward a few steps to better investigate the doors.

The images beyond the doorways were downright fantastic. One showed huge trollish men, tall and dark, rushing across open countryside, a white hand painted across each of their faces. They carried two children, and were fleeing from three shadowy figures in the distance.

In another he saw a brutal scene: around a huge metal horn children hardly younger than him were fighting to the death. As he watched, a muscled black teen broke away from the melee and into dense grass, carrying a small sack.

The structure quickly became far too much visual stimulation. Harry caught a glimpse of London as a blue box slowly vanished from sight; an ancient green elf (or goblin? Harry couldn't decide) spoke to a young man dressed in white; a tall brunette in leather armor fought her way savagely through hordes of men, a young blonde woman following in her wake.

Dazed, Harry returned his attention to the droning Unspeakable, and then got Ron's attention when he realized that what she was saying had become important.

"… my colleague will lead you to the correct portal. The clothes that you are wearing are typical to the vast majority of the people who inhabit the version of Earth that you will be visiting. You should be able to blend in well enough to collect more information, find Gupta, and bring him back without disturbing the stability of the multiverse." She paused for breath, and Harry could swear he saw the lights flicker from her intake of oxygen.

"I'm sorry, this is a bit much," Ron said frankly. "Do you mind saying that again, slowly? We're just Aurors." He flashed a charming smile, and Harry now took a moment to appreciate Hermione for giving Ron so much practice dealing with intellectuals.

The witch thought for a moment before saying, "Alright, but you _must_ pay close attention." She marched up the structure, Harry and Ron in tow, going up a winding staircase that Harry had seen her colleague mount earlier. She stopped climbing at the third tier of the structure and led them across the platform until she found the door she was searching for.

"These doors essentially allow people to step into different planes. Not different worlds, per say, just different versions of our own universe." Ron's gaze kept drifting to a portal where there could be seen a man in a dark cape and body armor, staring inexorably at a light in the sky bearing the same mark as the emblem on his chest. "They normally exist simultaneously as our own. Muggles believe that these planes are inaccessible. Generally they are right, but we are fortunate to have discovered a way to do so magically."

"How much do we know about these different worlds?" Harry asked.

"Dimensions," she corrected. "And almost nothing, actually. It is very hard to predict the way that interfering in the events of these alternate realities would effect, well, the fabric of everything we know, so only basic tests have been done. My job is to catalogue what we see, and to discover new planes." She gestured upwards at the rest of the tiers, indicating that even this vast room was a work in progress.

"Do these doors go both ways?" Ron asked, engrossed as the masked man leapt from the building and spread his arms, his cape allowing him to glide toward the light.

"Hmm." The Unspeakable seemed at a loss for how to explain. "Yes, technically. This door does not actually exist, and at the same time it exists everywhere. The charm creating these doors simply gives us a looking glass into the variations of space-time. From there it is entirely up to the viewer to feel their way not just into the Nothingness, as we do in Apparition, but through it to the destination of their choice."

"So if you could make it into the other dimension in this way, it stands to reason that you could return?" queried Ron.

"Exactly!" The witch seemed relieved. Harry was relieved that someone was following this discourse, because he had yet to. "We have managed to confirm this theory through testing. It is necessary for the traveler to return to the spot in which he originally materializes, though, in order to return."

"Why?" Harry ventured.

She seemed shocked. "Well, the universes are constantly rotating, like the planets in orbit! Where you materialize signifies the area of space that is most in contact with our own reality." Harry took her word for it; he did not even want to ask what would happen if the universe were to shift if he were still outside of his own world.

Harry saw the other Unspeakable approaching. "I hope I have explained everything well enough," the woman said when she saw reinforcements arriving. "My colleague will take you to your portal and answer any more questions you may have. Farewell." And with that, she scurried off across the platform, obviously glad to be rid of them.

This Unspeakable was a man, and he led them back to the staircase and up so many levels that Harry could only keep count by the burning in his thighs. As they climbed, Ron queried the wizard about the way time traveled in the portals, and Harry caught snippets of the reply. The most important thing seemed to be that time did not run concurrently in the universes, and that they might arrive to find that Gupta had already died of old age, or perhaps that moments had only passed since his arrival.

Harry marveled at the convict's magical skill. From what he could tell, Apparating between dimensions would be no easy task, yet Gupta had managed to do it under duress and without instruction. Harry doubted that he would have been able to do the same.

When they finally reached their tier, Harry imagined he could hear his ears popping from the altitude. They set off down the platform, passing more sights. Ron stopped short as they passed one door, saying, "Harry, check this one out. This bloke is sparkling!"

It was true; Harry himself witnessed the sparkling man. He was speaking intensely to a dark haired girl, who seemed to be crying pitifully, in a meadow filled with flowers. All of it seemed very emotional. Ron chuckled. "That's rich."

The Unspeakable turned to see what had held them up, and then laughed himself when he saw the door the Aurors had paused at. "These portals generally tend to show us monumentally important historical events, when sheer human-will shifts the universe itself. But the events we see in this one always seem to revolve around this couple's lives. I can't imagine living in such a place."

They moved on from the spectacle and soon reached their destination. This portal showed a boy standing shirtless on a mountaintop, staring pensively into the distance, a staff in his hand. Harry felt drawn to him. The Unspeakable began to read through his notes. "Portal 4378: Large population divided into four nationalities which resemble those of Earth's Asian countries. Most Observed Language: Chinese. Religion: Undetermined. Noted that people are generally highly spiritual. Existence of Magic: Confirmed. Important events: Generally focus on one man or woman in each generation, for full list see index."

"Is that all?" Harry asked. It was startlingly little to go on for an undercover mission.

"Yes, unfortunately," replied the man. "We can only know what we see. But you do have a copy of what I just said, as well as a more in-depth description of Gupta himself. You will also find that you have a map of this Earth, which is accurate as far as we can tell." Harry was beginning to see how challenging this assignment was going to be.

Ron sighed resignedly. "So just to be clear: We are to covertly go into this other world to retrieve Gupta. Our only information is that he may or may not be alive, and about three sentences describing this potentially dangerous unknown Earth. Is that right?"

In reply, the Unspeakable looked embarrassed.

"Well at least we have each other," Ron said sarcastically.

Having nothing else to add, Harry changed his partner's hair from vibrant red to dark brown. It was the only thing he could think to do in the situation.


	3. Chapter 3

Katara was expecting visitors. Normally she was so fastidious that she would have already been dressed and waiting for them an hour ago. But the warm water felt so good on her skin as she soaked in her bath, and the rumble of earthbending from outside, as new buildings were being constructed all around Republic City, was lulling her to sleep.

She vaguely wondered what the men who had requested the meeting wanted to discuss. Any business for the High Council would have been directed there and not to an individual Ambassador. She wasn't even a true member of the Council; no that was Sokka's place.

Perhaps they wanted to seek an audience with the Avatar, a request that was definitively her responsibility. She rotated her hand to keep the water flowing gently around her, and decided that this was probably the case.

She yawned and arched her back, temporarily exposing her nipples to the cold air.

This realization did not encourage her to move any faster. She allowed her head to slip beneath the water, bending it to allow herself to breath and wishing that she could remain here rather than turning down yet another request. It was trying for someone of her disposition to be unable to give people what they wanted.

For a moment she thought petulantly of her own needs as she directed the water to circle teasingly around her stomach.

It had been over five years since she had seen Aang. He had left her here in the city for a life of monkhood, and celibacy, as he attempted to rebuild the Air Acolytes. She of all people understood the importance of that duty, but it still stung to think about how he had turned from her kiss on the day he announced that he was leaving. He had gone off with Guru Pathik to continue to rebuild the world, without her. He was now cut off from society, holed up on his island, inaccessible to her or anyone else. She held back tears as she remembered how angry she had been to find herself abandoned by yet another man. And it certainly did not help that the island was so very close to the city; the proximity only hurt more.

Sometimes she wondered if his duty had not been the only motivation in his decision to leave. Perhaps he was afraid of facing his own manhood, and the huge task of repopulating the world with airbenders. Aang always had a penchant for avoidance. He had left her when she was eighteen, a time when people their age were getting married around the world. Her own life had been too busy to consider this for years, but she had begun to slowly discover her own sexuality.

Needless to say, her virginity did not survive long as she sought solace in the arms of other men. But she found that she enjoyed the give and take nature of sex, and that she was good at it. Now she wasn't sure she even wanted to see him again, let alone allow him into her bed.

"Just four more days until you have to decide," she murmured to herself. Aang's five year internment on the island was coming to an end, at which time he would no longer be bound by the rules of the Order. She honestly had no idea what that would mean for their relationship.

She felt the sadness returning, so she lowered herself further into the water and focused on her breathing. She imagined her body slowly being washed away, like sand by the ocean, until she was calm. Her meditation claimed her; she lost track of time as she lay adrift in the water. She completely forgot about her expected visitors.

* * *

><p>"Good afternoon," the young woman said politely as she opened the door for the visitors. Her deep blue dress identified her as a native of the Southern Water tribe, and she seemed barely out of her childhood. She would have been in her third year at Hogwarts, Harry estimated. He and Ron bowed politely to her in return.<p>

She stood greeting them in the doorway of a sumptuous house in the heart of Republic City. It stood quite near the still unfinished City Hall. The house was built from grey marble, and above the tall front door shone the emblem of the water tribe, completely transparent. Harry couldn't tell if it was made from glass or ice, though he would not be surprised if it were the latter. Through the door he could already tell that the house was much cozier on the inside.

"Do you have a meeting with Ambassador Katara?" the young woman asked.

"Yes we do. We are here to request an audience with the Avatar," Ron answered.

"Oh yes, Katara has been expecting you. If you will just follow me, please?" She led them into the house, and Harry found that the inside was even more impressive than the out. The floors were made of gleaming granite, the ceilings were high and vaulted, and in the distance he could hear falling water. The house was rendered welcoming by the shelves of scrolls and books lining the walls. As he passed them he recognized waterbending scrolls, history books, old novels, atlases, and tomes on Water Tribe culture.

They were being led through a large front hall, then down a wide hallway towards the center of the house. The shelves of books were here replaced by relics from around the globe, and he and Ron could barely contain their interest. A long sword with a dark blade, a single scratch marring its length, brought the Aurors up short.

"What is this?" Harry asked, in awe. The sword was, but for the scratch, flawless. The pommel was intricately carved, and if he were at home he would have sworn that the sword was goblin-made.

Their guide swelled with pride. "That is the sword of Sokka, our Councilman from the Southern Water Tribe and Ambassador Katara's brother. It was forged by Sokka himself, under the tutelage of the great master Pian Dow, from a fallen star. Then it was lost in the final battle against Fire Lord Ozai. Fire Lord Zuko presented Sokka with a new sword at the end of the war, and so when this one was rediscovered he presented it to Katara as a gift."

"It's spectacular," Ron breathed. He had always had a thing for swords, Harry remembered. They were armed with their wands, concealed beneath their robes, but he suspected that Ron would trade his in for this sword in a heartbeat.

"Yes it is, sir. Would you like to continue on?"

The two men nodded their consent and they continued walking. The hallway ended in a double staircase, stretched grandly around a huge pane of ice (Harry could feel the chill coming off of it) bearing the half-moon of the Water Tribe. Water rushed down its smooth surface into a pool at its base.

The girl led them up the staircase to the left and began explaining the house to her guests. "The mansion was designed by Ambassador Katara herself. She is having a duplicate of this water feature installed as the main wall of her office in city hall. The stair case on the right leads to the guest quarters, the kitchen, and the observatory. The one we are taking now leads to Katara's personal quarters and offices, as well as her Bending arena."

"So Ambassador Katara is a bender?" Ron asked as they topped the staircase.

"Oh yes. She is one of the best waterbenders in the world. She taught Avatar Aang himself!" The girl looked at them suspiciously. "I can't believe that you haven't heard of her. Katara's exploits with the Avatar are legendary!" The look on her face told Harry that she wanted to say more, but she controlled herself in the interest of courtesy. She did not, however, refrain from taking a moment to thoroughly scrutinize the strangers.

This was not the first time that this had occurred. Though the people of this world were generally very welcoming, the pinkish hue of Harry and Ron's skin had earned stares before, not to mention Ron's profusion of freckles. Caucasians were something that people, even on this planet of diverse skin tones, were unused to. Coupled with their strange accents, it just made Harry glad that he had thought to change Ron's hair color. He couldn't imagine how people would have reacted to that.

The walls of the corridor that they were now traversing was paneled with dark wood and broken up by intersecting corridors every few feet. They were also sparsely decorated with portraits and banners, as well as relics much more ancient than the ones on the floor below. The spirals decorating many of the objects were unfamiliar to Harry, making him suspect that they originated from the Air Nomads. He had gleaned enough of this world's history to know that the Avatar was the only remaining Air Nomad living. He therefore wondered how Katara had come to own so many of the man's relics. One in particular caught his eye: a heavy wooden amulet with a beaded chain, resting in a display case above a door that stood slightly ajar. It looked positively ancient, but he could not inspect it further as his young guide rushed her two guests toward their destination.

They soon reached the end of the hall, where there stood a double door that served as an entrance into an arena. The room was as large as the Great Hall and completely surrounded by a flowing river of water, natural light streaming in from the ceiling and catching on the ripples. The girl indicated a wooden bench positioned close beside the entrance to the room saying, "If you will just wait here, I will let Ambassador Katara know that you have arrived. My name is Kahmay, by the way, so please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. What may I tell her your names are?" Harry told her and she replied, "Alright Master Harry, Master Ron, my mistress should be with you shortly." She bowed herself out of the room.

Left alone, the two Aurors exchanged thoughts about the remarkable house. However, they soon ran out of things to say, and so sat in a companionable silence.

The minutes soon stretched into a half hour, and Harry's impatience began to get the best of him. Ron had dozed off against the wall, and Harry was bored of staring at the ceiling. He decided to take the opportunity to examine some of the relics they had passed, particularly the one that had caught his eye.

He nudged Ron awake to tell him his intentions before exiting the room and making his way back down the long wooden hallway towards the amulet. When he found the door above which it hung, he carefully examined it, craning his neck upward to get a better look. He could tell that it had once been highly polished and smooth, but age and exposure to the elements had pitted some of the large beads. The amulet itself looked weathered, bearing the faintly visible sign of three spirals arranged into a triangle. He conjectured that it had once belonged to someone highly important.

His curiosity sated, he turned to continue down the hallway, until his eye caught a glimpse of something far more interesting.

The door beneath the amulet stood ajar just far enough for Harry to place a single eye against it, which he did without hesitation. Beyond it, in a room lined with blue silk, stood a soaking wet woman, standing naked before a full body mirror.

Harry immediately felt blood rush south. The teenager in him considered calling Ron.

She was certainly one of the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen. He watched as she slowly worked her long dark hair into an intricate arrangement at the nape of her neck, then took a strand of hair from each of her temples and tied them back and over her ears into delicate loops. Raising her arms she siphoned the water from her hair, leaving it shining and perfectly dry.

Harry's eyes were drawn to her skin. It was light brown and flawlessly smooth, and he watched as a stray drop of water made its way slowly down her back, across the silky swell of her backside, and then all the way down one long, shapely leg. He decided emphatically not to call Ron to join him.

He turned his gaze to her reflection in the mirror. Her body looked soft but athletic, and he registered her huge blue eyes before being completely drawn in by her breasts. Harry had no complaints here: They looked just big enough to hold in his hands (and rub his face on, and frolic through, and erect a shrine to, Harry thought. The list was really endless.) Her two little brown nipples stood erect as beads of cold water dripped from them. Harry could feel his own erection growing in response.

It occurred to Harry that this woman was taking her time. She enjoyed watching herself do this. The thought quickened his pulse.

With one smooth, sinuous motion she bent down to her ankles and began bending the water off her taut body. For a split second Harry saw her breasts in profile as she slowly straightened herself up. Then he watched her ass sway as she guided the thin stream of water away from her, unfolding her arms until the water swirled above her head, and then sent it back through her bathroom door. Her breasts bounced playfully in response.

If it had not been for his years of training as an Auror, Harry probably would not have noticed the approaching footsteps through the blinding lust rampaging through his body. Fortunately, he managed to tear his eyes away in time to compose himself before Ron rounded the corner.

"Where've you been mate?" Ron asked, nonplussed at his partner's flushed face.

"Just admiring this… amulet. It's great, isn't it?" Harry whispered in response, afraid to alert the woman to their presence.

"Why are you whispering?"

Harry wanted to punch him; his voice seemed ridiculously loud and in the corner of his eye he saw the woman turn her face to the door.

"Just go!" Harry replied, grabbing Ron by the shoulder and speeding back to the arena, his heart pounding in his ears for more reasons than one.


	4. Chapter 4

It was taking all of Harry's prodigious will power to keep his mind from conjuring forbidden images of the woman who now stood before them. Thankfully, Ron was doing most of the talking.

"Ma'am, we have traveled a very long way for an audience with the Avatar. And believe me when I say that the world is on the cusp of being thrown out of balance," Ron pressed earnestly.

"I'm so sorry, but you're not the first visitors who have come with similar requests! The Avatar simply cannot be reached, even if I granted you an audience."

Harry was beginning to worry that their assignment was about to meet failure. However, Ron rallied his courage and asked, "If it's a matter of distance, we don't mind travelling. Where is the Avatar? We can go to him."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot share that information with you. Suffice it to say that the Avatar and his monks are quite hidden."

This rebuttal, for once, did not discourage the Aurors. "Monks?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time, though not yet able to make eye contact.

"Yes," Katara said slowly. "Avatar Aang and a handful of acolytes to the teaching of the Airbenders are attempting to reestablish the Air Nomad Order under the guidance of the esteemed Guru Pathik." Katara paused here and examined their faces. "Gentlemen, I am a very close confidant of the Avatar, and I can assure you that anything you say will be held in the highest confidence. If the world is truly at stake, what is it that you need to discuss?"

Harry tried his best to turn his face into an inscrutable mask, but he could see in the corner of his eye that Ron looked downright distrustful. Katara, on the other hand, seemed to be slowly realizing that this tactic would not work on them. He assumed that her clout had never failed to get her what she wanted before, but it was out of the question for them to share even the slightest bit of their real purpose for being there.

Ron spoke up and finally broke the silence. "When will the Avatar be returning?"

"In four days. He and the monks plan to announce the creation of a new Air Temple. You must have really traveled a long way to not have heard about that." She looked truly suspicious now.

"Yes, very far," Ron muttered. "Weeks of travel. We barely heard any news at all."

"Well, I have done some extensive traveling myself, and news usually travels very quickly in the Earth Kingdom," Katara replied.

Harry felt sweat forming on his brow. She was tricky, but she had also provided them with hope. Gupta would be returning soon and it was now only a matter of time before he and Ron would have a chance to capture him.

Having reached the same conclusion, Ron stood, bowed respectfully and said, "Well in that case Harry and I will wait for his arrival and speak to him then. Thank-."

"Where will you be staying in Republic City?" Katara asked, cutting him off.

Harry was carrying a shrunken Ministry-issue tent that he and Ron had been sleeping in every night during their travels. Presumably they would be returning to the outskirts of the city to camp until the Avatar's return. He did not, however, think that Katara would be encouraged by such news.

"Why do you ask?" Harry ventured. Ron glanced at him, evidently surprised.

"Well, as guests of the Avatar you are more than welcome to stay here!" Harry saw her shoulders relax. Was she happy that she was finally able to offer them something? Or perhaps she was simply luring them in to keep an eye on them?

"We would like that very much," Harry decided.

"It's settled then. I only have one room to offer you, however. It is the only guest room that has been completed, so I am afraid that one of you will have to stay at Councilman Sokka's house while you wait for the Avatar's return."

"Councilman Sokka?" Ron's eyebrows raised. "The man who forged that beautiful sword in the foyer?"

When Katara answered in the affirmative, Harry knew that Ron had already decided at whose home he would be staying tonight. And as the memory of a single bead of water sliding down smooth brown skin crept back into his mind, Harry couldn't find it within himself to object.


End file.
